Russell Casey was about 5 when he developed a passion for cooking by helping his grandfather grill outdoors.
“That man would cook any type of beef you could imagine,” Casey says. “He always wanted to fatten me up.”
Casey, now executive chef of the new Restaurant Iris, bussed tables when he was 13 at The Grove Grill, which was where Restaurant Iris now is located.
He majored in English at the now-called Western Colorado University, but he decided to stay in the culinary field after working at a local restaurant. “I liked the versatility of working in a kitchen. I knew I could travel and I could always feed myself.”
Casey “developed a knack” for “what would work well together as far as any type of cuisine.” He came to work early to learn how to “butcher fish, make sauces, and braises” from the chef. Casey worked there for about four years.
“I thought I knew everything and then I got into fine dining and realized I didn’t know jack shit. It’s a whole new ball game.”
Returning to Memphis, Casey eventually got a job at The Inn at Hunt Phelan. Executive chef Stephen Hassinger was a big influence. “He was calm, but fair and stern, which is discipline. We all need that. It really motivated me to keep going. I think when you’re tired, and you don’t think you can move on, and chef is still rocking it out, and he’s got a couple of years on you, it motivates you.”
Casey learned a lot from Hassinger. “I don’t know if ‘spirituality’ is the word, but just respecting the abundance of food we have access to and not wasting it, as opposed to spoiling it or throwing it away. Always pack fish in ice the way they’d swim in the ocean. Respect the fact that if a living thing was slaughtered or died so you can eat it, you need to respect that and take care of it, and use everything you possibly can to make it sort of a way of being thankful for what we have.”
Chef Vishwesh Bhatt, who Casey worked under at Snackbar in Oxford, Mississippi, was another influence. “Here he comes from India, and he has this kick-ass, unique French fusion where he’s using spices and things I’d never known before. It reignited my passion for cooking.”
Bhatt influenced Casey to “grab a bull by the horns” and move up in his career. “Because the last thing I want to do is get stuck.” Casey didn’t want to become a “60-year-old, burned-out line cook.” He returned to Memphis and eventually got a job as executive chef at Bounty on Broad.
Hearing about the opening of the new Restaurant Iris, Casey pulled no punches when he told owner Kelly English, “Look. We can own this mutha fucka: your brand — and you market yourself so well — and I can kill it in the kitchen. I’m your guy. Let’s go get coffee.”
Restaurant Iris fare will be “classic New Orleans” with some Iris staples, including the lobster knuckle sandwich. “With the exception of three or four staples, everything is kind of ‘think Galatoire’s’ type of menu with my fingerprints all over it.
“What people keep saying sounds like me is the pan-roasted flounder with speckled lima beans and succotash. It kind of screams, ‘Russell Casey.’ I think it’s all those classic, comforting different techniques throughout the dish, and it’s cool.”
Casey sees his Restaurant Iris position as the “culmination of all the blood, sweat, and tears” he’s endured working his way up the ladder.
He remembers when he made and sold mozzarella cheese to supplement his chef’s income. He made the cheese on Friday nights after a long day’s work at the restaurant. He then had to be at the farmer’s market at 5 a.m. Becoming a chef is “definitely a younger man’s ambition, for sure. But all that, I think, gets wrapped up into teaching you how to be tough. And that the sky’s the limit. Go for the gold.”
Restaurant Iris is at 4550 Poplar Avenue in Laurelwood Shopping Center.
